List of North American Medical Specialities and Others
In this table, as in many healthcare arenas, medical specialties are organized into the following groups:
- Surgical specialties focus on manually operative and instrumental techniques to treat disease.
- Medical specialties that focus on the diagnosis and non-surgical treatment of disease.
- Diagnostic specialties focus more purely on diagnosis of disorders.
Specialty | Code | Group | Subspecialties | Focus |
---|---|---|---|---|
Allergy and Immunology | Allergic reactions, asthma, and the immune system | |||
Anesthesiology | AN, PAN | Surgery | Pediatrics, Pain management, Intensive Care, Critical Care, Obstetrics and gynaecology, Cardiothoracic anesthesiology, Trauma Care, Pre- and Post-Operative Assessment and Care, Generalist (covers all the sub-specialties) | Anesthesia |
Cardiology | Medicine | Disease of the cardiovascular system | ||
Cardiovascular surgery | Surgery | The operation of heart and major blood vessels of the chest. | ||
Clinical laboratory sciences | Diagnostic |
|
Application of diagnostic techniques in medical laboratories such as assays, microscope analysis. | |
Dermatology | D, DS | Medicine | Dermatopathology, Mohs Surgery | Skin and its appendages (hair, nails, sweat glands etc.). |
Dietetics | Food and nutrition | |||
Emergency medicine | EM | Medicine |
|
The initial management of emergent medical conditions, often in hospital emergency departments or the field. |
Endocrinology | Medicine | The endocrine system (i.e., endocrine glands and hormones) and its diseases, including diabetes and thyroid diseases. | ||
Family Medicine | FM | Medicine |
|
Continuing, comprehensive healthcare for the individual and family, integrating the biological, clinical and behavioral sciences to treat patients of all ages, sexes, organ systems, and diseases. |
Forensic Medicine | Medicine | |||
Gastroenterology | GI | Medicine | The alimentary tract | |
General surgery | GS | Surgery |
|
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Geriatrics | IMG | Medicine | Elderly patients | |
Gynecology | Female reproductive health | |||
Hepatology | Medicine | The liver and biliary tract, usually a part of gastroenterology. | ||
Infectious disease | ID | Medicine | Diseases caused by biological agents | |
Intensive care medicine | Medicine | Life support and management of critically ill patients, often in an ICU. | ||
Medical research | Anatomy, Biochemistry, Embryology, Genetics, Pharmacology, Toxicology | |||
Nephrology | Medicine | Kidney diseases | ||
Neurology | N | Medicine |
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Diseases involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems |
Neurosurgery | NS | Surgery |
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Disease of the central nervous system, peripheral nervous system, and spinal column. |
Obstetrics and gynecology | OB/GYN | Surgery |
|
|
Oncology | ON | Medicine |
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Cancer and other malignant diseases, often grouped with hematology. |
Ophthalmology | OPH | Surgery | Retina, Cornea | Diseases of the visual pathways, including the eyes, brain, etc. |
Oral and maxillofacial surgery | Maxfacs, OMS | Surgery |
|
Disease of the head, neck, face, jaws and the hard and soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial region. |
Orthopedic surgery | ORS | Surgery | hand surgery, surgical sports medicine, adult reconstruction, spine surgery, foot and ankle, musculoskeletal oncology, orthopaedic trauma surgery, pediatric orthopedic surgery | Injury and disease of the musculoskeletal system. |
Otorhinolaryngology, or ENT | ORL, ENT | Surgery | Head and neck, facial cosmetic surgery, Neurotology, Laryngology | Treatment of ear, nose, and throat disorders. The term head and neck surgery defines a closely related specialty that is concerned mainly with the surgical management of cancer of the same anatomical structures. |
Palliative care | PLM | Medicine | A relatively modern branch of clinical medicine that deals with pain and symptom relief and emotional support in patients with terminal illnesses including cancer and heart failure. | |
Pathology | PTH | Diagnostic | Understanding disease through examination of molecules, cells, tissues and organs. The term encompasses both the medical specialty that uses tissues and body fluids to obtain clinically useful information and the related scientific study of disease processes. | |
Pediatrics | PD | Medicine | Children. Like internal medicine, pediatrics has many subspecialities for specific age ranges, organ systems, disease classes, and sites of care delivery. Most subspecialities of adult medicine have a pediatric equivalent such as pediatric cardiology, pediatric endocrinology, pediatric gastroenterology, pediatric hematology, pediatric oncology, pediatric ophthalmology, and neonatology. | deals with the medical care of infants, children, and adolescents (from newborn to age 16-21, depending on the country). |
Pediatric surgery | Surgery | Treats a wide variety of thoracic and abdominal (and sometimes urologic) diseases of childhood. | ||
Physical medicine and rehabilitation Or Physiatry | PM&R | Medicine | Concerned with functional improvement after injury, illness, or congenital disorders. | |
Plastic surgery | PS | Surgery |
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Elective cosmetic surgery as well as reconstructive surgery after traumatic or operative mutilation. |
Podiatry | POD | Surgery |
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Elective podiatric surgery of the foot and ankle, lower limb diabetic wound and salvation, peripheral vascular disease limb preservation, lower limb mononeuropathy conditions. |
Proctology | PRO | Medicine | (or Colorectal Surgery) Treats disease in the rectum, anus, and colon. | |
Psychiatry | P | Medicine |
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The bio-psycho-social study of the etiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cognitive, perceptual, emotional and behavioral disorders. Related non-medical fields include psychotherapy and clinical psychology. |
Pulmonology | Medicine | The lungs and respiratory system. Pulmonology is generally considered a branch of internal medicine, although it is closely related to intensive care medicine when dealing with patients requiring mechanical ventilation. | ||
Radiology | R, DR | Diagnostic and Therapeutic |
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The use of expertise in radiation in the context of medical imaging for diagnosis or image guided minimally invasive therapy. X-rays, etc. |
Rheumatology | RHU | Medicine | Autoimmune and inflammatory diseases of the joints and other organ systems, such as arthritis and other rheumatic diseases. | |
Stomatology | Dentistry | Diseases of the mouth | ||
Surgical oncology | SO | Surgery | Curative and palliative surgical approaches to cancer treatment. | |
Thoracic surgery | TS | Surgery | Surgery of the organs of the thoracic cavity: the heart, lungs, and great vessels. | |
Transplant surgery | TTS | Surgery | Transplantation of organs from one body to another | |
Urgent Care Medicine | UCM | Medicine | Immediate medical care offering outpatient care for the treatment of acute and chronic illness and injury | |
Urology | U | Surgery | Urinary tracts of males and females, and the male reproductive system. It is often practiced together with andrology ("men's health"). | |
Vascular surgery | VS | Surgery | The peripheral blood vessels – those outside of the chest (usually operated on by cardiovascular surgeons) and of the central nervous system (treated by neurosurgery) |
Read more about this topic: Surgical Specialities
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